Magic carpet ride to Youth City Lab
New space to connect kids with community and teach them skills
Youth City Lab will teach skills in a renovated former church on Government Street. (RedEye photos)
A former church on Government Street is becoming Youth City Lab—a gathering place that connects young people to their community through skills, service, and space.
The details: YCL is a collaboration of Front Yard Bikes, Big Buddy, Line4Line and Humanities Amped. Plans include a bike shop, barbershop, library, maker space, stage and community garden. A soft opening is planned for spring, with grand opening in fall.
The backstory: Built in 1955 as a Pentecostal church, the building later became an oriental rug store, where each rug carried a deliberate flaw, a reminder that perfection is for God, not people. In 2019, entrepreneur Devin Broome bought the property to create a community space. Covid scrambled the original plan, but not the idea. It evolved into Youth City Lab.
Philanthropy done right: Startup support came from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation, along with more than $2 million from donors, including the Charles Lamar Family Foundation, the Pennington Family Foundation and Capital Area Finance Authority.
What they’re saying: “We have a lot of young people who don’t have anything tethering them to the community,” said Dustin LaFont, founder of Front Yard Bikes. “Their lives feel extremely limited. We see YCL as that one mentor, one engagement, that grounds them so they can make healthy decisions.”
The bottom line: Youth City Lab is more than a rehab of a Mid City building. It is an attempt to give young people skills, a sense of belonging and a reason to feel that this city belongs to them as well.